


Racing Heart

by Smediterranea



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Coming of Age, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Growing Up Feels, Light Angst, Nerds in Love, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:27:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24591544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smediterranea/pseuds/Smediterranea
Summary: “I don’t get it,” Toph asks Katara after her fifth rant about the mysterious appearance of Zuko. “Is he hot?”“Toph!” Katara yelps, scandalized.“That wasn’t a no.”Katara storms off in a huff. She’s not going to put up with such undignified behavior.Okay, fine, so Zukowashot. Who cares? Not Katara. She certainly didn’t think that the healing cut across his face made him look dashing. That was some romance novel nonsense, and Katara only read those in secret. She certainly would never allow herself to think such things.High School AU: Katara is a gifted student obsessed with track and field. Then Zuko shows up to mess up all her best-laid plans with his stupid, hot, annoying self.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 130
Kudos: 924





	Racing Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Is there too much detail about high school track meet event scheduling in here? Probably. Did I use to think that this scheduling was of the utmost importance? Absolutely. Ah, reliving high school sports.
> 
> For clarification, I made all the Gaang the same age (including Sokka and Katara, who are twins in this). 
> 
> Enjoy!

One of the many things Katara prides herself on is her ability to focus. It’s how she balances her busy junior year packed with AP classes and after-school sports. It’s why she’s never forgotten a friend’s birthday or an assignment’s due date.

But it’s also why the appearance of Zuko Sozin early December is so annoying. For the first time in years, Katara is completely and utterly distracted.

For one thing, this Zuko kid is in almost all her classes. One morning, she’s got a prime seat in the front of Advanced Placement Chemistry, and the next day, Mr. Jeong has put this new kid i _her_ seat. Not only that, but he’s in her AP literature class, AP history class, _and_ honors trigonometry. The only class they don’t seem to share is their language requirement because Zuko takes Latin. And Sokka called _her_ a nerd.

To make matters worse, Zuko’s sudden presence means her teachers are distracted by giving him alternative assignments to catch up. Katara is frustrated — if her full attention is on the class, why aren’t her teachers doing the same? What was so special about this Zuko kid? He dressed in dark hoodies and always tried to cover his face with his hair. It was so _annoying_.

“I don’t get it,” Toph asks Katara after her fifth rant about the mysterious appearance of Zuko. “Is he hot?”

“Toph!” Katara yelps, scandalized.

Toph’s blind, milky eyes widen with glee.

“That wasn’t a no.”

Katara storms off in a huff. She’s not going to put up with such undignified behavior.

Okay, fine, so Zuko _was_ hot. Who cares? Not Katara. She certainly didn’t think that the healing cut across his face made him look dashing. That was some romance novel nonsense, and Katara only read those in secret. She certainly would never allow herself to think such things.

Still, Toph’s teasing does make her question just why she’s so riled by Zuko when she should be focused on her upcoming finals. She considers him one day in history class when they’re supposed to be watching a movie. He spends most of the time frowning up at the screen like it’s personally offended him. Why did he always look so pissed off?

This, Katara decides, is why she is distracted by him. Katara _knew_ anger. Most people saw her as a happy, friendly person. More than once she had been referred to as ‘bubbly.’ Truthfully, she was a pretty happy person most of the time, but there was anger in her, too. It mostly came out in soccer games and when listening to really emo music, but sometimes it felt so big, she feared it would escape. She had to work hard to hide her anger. Zuko was barely concealing his.

She was jealous. Why could he be angry all the time and she couldn’t?

Needless to say, she isn’t thrilled when she’s paired up with him at the end of literature class to peer-review final papers. They swap essays on _East of Eden_ , which they had been discussing for weeks before Zuko showed up unexpectedly.

“Did you even read the book?” she asks him, a note of condescension in her voice.

“Of course I did,” Zuko snarls back.

Katara rolls her eyes. A total jerk, just like she expected.

She turns to his paper, red pen poised for attack. She’s ready to eviscerate every sentence — that will show him.

She starts strong. The opening lines are weak and poorly constructed. Clearly, he had just thrown something on the page to get a foothold. And yet after a few lines, the sentence structure smooths out. The prose becomes almost musical in tone, the thesis strong and resonant in each paragraph. By the time she finishes, her red pen lies useless on the table.

“Zuko, this paper is really good,” she tells him honestly.

Zuko seems unimpressed by this compliment.

“No need to sound so shocked. I’m not _stupid_ ,” he spits.

Katara frowns, hurt. She had not meant to imply that, but, in fairness, she _had_ assumed he was lazy. He always looked so bored and closed off — how was she supposed to know he had a way with writing in a way he most certainly did not with words?

Katara wants to restate her praise, but she catches sight of her paper. Zuko has scribbled all over it in red ink.

“Fine!” she says snippily. “Be that way!”

It’s not a good comeback, and she feels even worse when she reads his comments later. Every single one is either a good idea to improve her argument, or a compliment for her creativity. 

She screams into a pillow. Why did Zuko Sozin have to be the most distracting and difficult person on the planet?

—

When classes begin again in January, Katara counts down the days until pre-season for track and field starts. She’s eager to get rid of her tan from her shin guards and to get back into sprinting form. She’s got a good feeling about this season now that she’s been bumped up to varsity. She writes down her goals for her events: the 100m and 300m hurdles. She hopes she can snag a spot on the 4x200m and 4x400m relays, too, although she knows it’s far from guaranteed.

Then _he_ shows up.

Their very first day is comprised of hill repeats in a neighborhood three miles away — the coach’s way of getting rid of people in a no-cut sport. It never works because the slackers, as Katara thinks of them, don’t show up for another month when the actual season starts. Still, she doesn’t mind a long workout because she gets to talk to Aang.

Aang is certainly faster than her, but he is the least competitive person Katara has ever met, and is content to jog along at her pace. His lanky, lean form makes him the perfect jumper. Because of this, they don’t get to talk much at a normal track practice, as they’re stuck on opposite ends of the field. In fact, most of Katara’s friends are not sprinters. Toph and Suki are throwers, while Sokka runs mid-distance events. This is perfect for Sokka because he gets to choose whether he feels like a long run or sprinting practice on a whim. He and Katara are twins, although Sokka loves to remind Katara that he is nine minutes older than her. Katara wasn’t sure if she and Sokka were different in nature, or if their constant togetherness drove them to different interests, but either way, track was one of the very few activities they shared. Come rain or shine, Katara was with her hurdles, setting her blocks and counting her steps, while Sokka was running laps around the track, teasing her as he passed by.

Some of Katara’s enthusiasm for the season dims as she watches Sokka up ahead of her and Aang. He seems to be trying to engage Zuko in conversation, which Katara thinks must be a lost cause. She glares at the back of Zuko’s tall frame.

“Okay, what’s wrong?” Aang asks, following her line of sight. “Why do you hate this guy?”

“I don’t trust him.”

“Because?”

“I just don’t, okay? There’s something weird about him. He shows up one day, out of the blue, with no explanation, three weeks before finals. That’s weird, right? _And_ he’s in like all my classes, and now he’s _here_ , too. It’s like he’s copying my life.”

Aang mulls this over for a minute.

“Showing up in the middle of the school semester _is_ pretty weird,” he concedes. “But it probably wasn’t his choice.”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it. Would _you_ want to switch schools three weeks before finals?”

“No.”

“Maybe he didn’t either. Maybe he was forced to.”

“You mean like he got kicked out of another school? Aang, that just makes him even weirder.”

“Or something really bad happened to him at another school,” Aang says with a worried expression. “Like what if he was bullied? He’s got that big scar on his face, and it looks pretty fresh…”

Katara’s heart sinks. She had been so focused on Zuko being the villain of the story in her head, she had not considered this idea.

“And as for him being in all your classes,” Aang says brightly, “it sounds like you’ve got a new study buddy! I saw Mr. Piandao put Zuko’s _East of Eden_ essay up on the board, so he must be good at writing. You always want someone to swap essays with — maybe you can work with him?”

Katara sighs. She should’ve expected this answer from Aang. He is genuinely the nicest person she has ever met, which makes him a great friend, but occasionally annoying to vent to. Sometimes Aang just didn’t get it when Katara felt angry.

Although she had had a vague hope that Zuko might drop out of track, he appears determined to stay on. Worse, he turns out to be a sprinter. Katara has had a bad record with sprinters. Namely, she’s had a crush on one every single season since she started high school.

It had started with Jet, who was a year above her and undeniably cool. He had been the fastest junior-varsity guy and let everyone know it. He also got on Sokka’s nerves, which was a plus as far as Katara was concerned. But as the season wore on, Katara saw another side of Jet. He was talented, but he took shortcuts. He whined about long workouts, or blamed others when he lost races. Nothing was ever his fault or his problem. Katara appreciated having a talented kid on her team, but she steered clear of him after that.

The next season, it was Haru who caught her eye. He was way nicer than Jet, and a decent sprinter. Katara was impressed that he was on the varsity team, although Sokka had pointed out that Haru was also a year older than them, and any guy who was a junior or senior had to be on varsity due to age rules. Katara had tried to get to know Haru better, but she had trouble breaking through his steely demeanor. One day, she realized she actually _had_ broken through — he was just boring. So much for that.

At least with Jet and Haru, Katara’s crush had been immediate and faded once she got to know them. With Zuko, she already disliked him, so even if he was an admittedly handsome and talented sprinter, there was no way she was going to develop a crush. Not this year.

Once the season starts in earnest, Katara puts her thoughts about Zuko to the side and focuses on her goals. It’s hard work, and it feels good. Every time she puts on her spikes, her chest feels tight with excitement. This is going to be _her year_.

By the time their first track meet rolls around, Katara is itching to prove herself. She goes through her warmup with Aang as she always does, the two of them laughing over a funny incident earlier in the day.

“Hey, focus up back there!”

Sokka is leading the team warmup, an honor usually held by a senior student. Sokka had been bursting with pride to have been picked as captain for the day. It’s the only reason Katara doesn’t shout back at him, but she does stick out her tongue. Zuko, who is jogging in the front of the pack with Sokka, turns to see who he’s yelling at just in time to catch Katara with her tongue out. His lips twitch into a smile and Katara flushes.

Ugh, why was he so _immature_?

Well, she’ll show Zuko. Once the 4x100m relay is done, it’s time for the 100m hurdles, and she fully intends not only to win, but to set a personal record.

Unfortunately, Zuko is running in said relay and he’s the third leg. Katara cheers on her team — Bosco High School, Go Bears! — even if Zuko is involved. Points are points, and she wants her team to win.

Zuko rounds the curve, keeping the lead Haru had gained before he passes the baton to Jet. Jet does what he does best: runs fast and looks great doing it. Katara whoops when he crosses the finish line first, setting her blocks for her race. Zuko is still standing in his lane a few feet from Katara’s starting line, panting a bit. He turns to look at her.

“Good luck.”

He stalks off so quickly, she wonders if she had imagined it. _Good luck?_ Katara didn’t need _luck_. She was going to win this race thanks to hard work. She is annoyed, which is not the way she wanted to start her race.

She crosses the finish line just shy of seventeen seconds later, even more annoyed than when she started. Not only was this not a personal record, she hadn’t even won. She had been edged out at the very end.

She tries to refocus, but it’s hard to distract herself from her funk. All of her friends are already busy with their events, and even Aang, as chill as he usually is, likes to keep his focus when he’s competing. Katara can’t go vent to any of them that Zuko Sozin had purposefully thrown her off her game.

It takes until the start of her next event until she realizes it’s not the _good luck_ that had annoyed her, but the fact that she had _liked_ it. Zuko had paid attention to her for two seconds and she had been _happy_ about it.

Ugh! Boys were so weird!

The 4x200m relay goes okay. Katara runs the second leg, and although her handoff is a bit shakier than she would like, it’s good enough to keep them in second place. The order doesn’t change before the end of the race. Second place is fine for now. She’ll take it over a disqualification for a bad handoff at any rate.

The 300m hurdles go a lot better. The girl who had edged Katara out in the 100m flags around the first bend, and Katara always gets a boost around the halfway mark as she races past the shot put and discus areas.

“COME ON KATARA!”

“WHOOOO, GO KATARA!”

Suki and Toph’s screams cut through the cheers. Katara puts on another burst of speed. A hundred meters left… seventy-five…fifty…

“YEAH, KATARA! YOU GOT THIS! WHOOO, THAT’S MY SISTER!”

Sokka, waiting for his 800m race to start, runs alongside on the field as he always does during Katara’s hurdle race. She puts on the final burst of speed and throws her body over the finish line. A sub-forty-seven second time and the next finisher takes another two seconds to stumble over the line. Take _that_.

Katara, legs trembling a bit, steps off the track onto the field. Sokka gives her their patented Water Twins high-five and goes through the rest of his warmup. Katara jogs to the pile of backpacks in the center of the field to switch her spikes for sneakers.

Zuko is stretching next to his bag, a chemistry textbook open next to him. He looks up as she approaches.

“Nice race,” he says.

“Thanks.”

Katara waits for Zuko to say something else, but he is silent. Fine, if he doesn’t want to talk to her, she won’t talk to him.

“Did you do the chem homework yet?”

Katara blinks.

“What?”

“The chem homework,” Zuko says, nodding his head towards the textbook. “It’s due tomorrow.”

“I know,” she says hotly, a little embarrassed. “And yes, I did finish it.”

“Did you understand number eight? I’ve been re-reading this section about molecular orbital theory and it makes no sense.”

He frowns at his textbook, looking uncomfortable.

“Oh,” Katara says, surprised. “Yeah, that stuff is hard. Here,” she adds, pulling her backpack to her. “Let me see what I put.”

She grabs her chemistry notebook and moves to sit next to Zuko. He shrinks back slightly, then looks embarrassed that she notices. He doesn’t say anything as Katara slowly walks him through the problem and her solution.

“What do you think?” she asks him.

“Me? You’re the one who knows how to do this stuff.”

“Yeah, but this is just my best guess,” she admits. “If you don’t think it makes sense, we can try it again together.”

Something softens in Zuko’s expression. It’s rather remarkable; she’s not used to seeing him when he isn’t scowling. It’s… nice.

“No,” he says quietly. “Your answer makes sense. Thanks, Katara.”

“No problem,” she says easily. “Here, I’m going to leave this with you for a second while I go cheer on Sokka.”

She jogs off as the starting pistol fires. The start of the 800m is always a weird mess, so Katara waits closer to the finish line. Sokka places third, a decent showing, and seems happy enough with his race.

“Tough crowd today,” he says. “Not one person liked my starting-line jokes.”

“No one likes your starting-line jokes, Sokka.”

“Tell that to Suki.”

“There is a reason that Suki stays over by the discus throwers when your race starts.”

Sokka gives her arm a playful punch. They walk over to the backpacks together to find Zuko lacing up his spikes.

“Hey, man!” Sokka says happily. “Off to jump?”

“Yeah,” Zuko says a little frantically. “Didn’t realize they were calling me over. Thanks for your help, Katara,” he adds, handing back her notebook.

“Good luck!” Katara yells at Zuko’s retreating figure.

Sokka turns to Katara, eyebrows raised.

“Helping Zuko with homework? Offering him good luck before his event? My, my, have you gone soft, little sister?”

Katara rolls her eyes.

“Fine, you were right. Zuko isn’t so bad.”

“What was that?”

“You. Were. Right,” Katara grits out under her breath. Sokka mimes holding up a trophy and waving to the crowd. Katara gives him a light smack to the stomach and he doubles over.

“Hey!”

“Just because he’s not the worst doesn’t mean he’s my friend now,” Katara says, ignoring Sokka’s glare.

“Nobody said you had to be friends with guy. But he’s pretty cool, actually. He’s been practicing with us for the four by four, and he doesn’t put up with any of Jet’s prima donna shit. And he spends a lot of time with Aang since he does triple jump and long jump. Aang says he’s nice.”

“Aang thinks everyone is nice.”

“Touché.”

“Look, it’s not like I hate the guy. I just don’t really trust him.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. It seems like he doesn’t trust anyone either.”

“Maybe he doesn’t trust anyone because they don’t trust him. It’s a catch-22 of trust.”

“Sokka, have you even read that book?”

“No, but I know what it means. Reading books isn’t everything, little sister.”

Sokka says this in a casual tone, but Katara can sense the hurt under the surface. As much as people like to pair Sokka and Katara together as twins, people love pointing out their differences even more. The one that stung the most for Sokka was that Katara was the ‘smart’ twin. She had been a straight-A student her whole life, and had always taken the maximum number of advanced classes. She was responsible and obedient, a ‘pleasure to have in class’ according to every teacher. Sokka, on the other hand, had been branded as a lazy hellion since the second grade. It was not lost of Katara that this was the year their mother had died.

The truth was that Sokka was just as smart as Katara, but he struggled with school. Sokka had always been behind at reading compared to Katara, but it had been suggested it was just because their mother was sick and Sokka was distracted. By the time teachers realized that perhaps Sokka was dyslexic, it was too late to reverse the trajectory. Sokka hated school because he had been told he was slow for years, and even though now he could read just fine, he didn’t really like doing it. Instead, Sokka was the handy one around the house. He could fix anything, including the beat up old car he had bought himself with every nickel from his summer lifeguarding job. Katara, on the other hand, was saving her lifeguarding money for college. She knew that Sokka’s life and her life were headed for different places, but she always saw them as equal. Unfortunately, not everyone else did.

“Wanna do our four by four warm up?” she asks, trying to smooth the tension.

“Water Twins!” Sokka replies, wiggling his arms like a wave. Katara giggles.

This is the one ritual of the track meet she has with Sokka. After their final individual events, they jog two cool-down laps together before they ramp back up for the final 4x400m relays. Sokka and Katara are both running the second leg of the event, and it’s a long wait for the 3200m race to be completed.

Eventually, Katara and Sokka’s teammates join them to go through the final preparations. Katara feels a nervous flutter in her stomach. Being part of a team event is less nerve-wracking than individual ones, but she still wants to win. 

This is Katara’s hardest event. Four hundred meters is a long way to keep up a sprint, but adrenaline powers her through. It’s hard to hear the crowd over the pounding of her heart, but she sees Aang’s enthusiastically cheering, Toph and Suki waving, and Sokka running alongside her as she approaches the finish line. She passes off the baton and stumbles off the track, her leg muscles already seizing at the pain and effort of the sprint. 

Sokka gives her a pat on the back before returning to his teammates. Zuko is next to him and gives a shy thumbs-up when she looks over. She’s too tired to smile at him, so she settles on returning the thumbs-up and hoping she doesn’t look too wrecked.

She catches her breath by the time the boys take to the track. It’s Jet, Sokka, Haru, and Zuko, all of them shaking out their legs as they prepare for the race to begin. Sokka had told Katara that Jet had thrown a fit when Zuko was selected to be anchor leg, but it made the most sense. Jet had the fastest start — it was what made him a great 100m sprinter — but Zuko had the most raw power. Katara had watched him run in practice and had been impressed. His focus and determination rivaled her own.

Being the last event of the meet, most of the team has gathered to watch, the exception being the varsity boy’s high jump, which always takes forever. Katara is joined by Suki and Toph fifty meters from the finish line just as the gun goes off. They cheer for Jet as he passes — Katara might think he’s a self-important ass, but he’s still on their team, after all — but they really amp up the volume once Sokka has the baton. Suki and Katara sprint across the field to cheer him on as he rounds the first one hundred and fifty meters, and then sprint back for the final fifty. Toph, despite her tiny frame, manages to bellow louder than everyone else. Sokka remains deadly focused on the race, where he is neck and neck with his opponent. The baton is handed to Haru, and Suki darts off to give Sokka a congratulatory kiss. Katara stays with Toph to cheer, groaning as Haru is passed just before the final straightaway.

By the time Zuko gets the baton, their team has lost several seconds behind their rivals. Katara, who is narrating for Toph, sighs.

“There’s no way he can make that up,” she explains.

“You said it’s just a few seconds!”

“Yeah, but the whole race is only a few seconds. It makes a big difference. There’s no way…”

But Katara’s voice dies away. Zuko is gaining on his opponent, arms pumping furiously as he races down the first two hundred meters. Katara feels her heart leap as he enters the curve, just feet behind now.

“Sugar Queen, a little help here? What’s going on?”

“Zuko is gaining on him… Toph, he’s right behind him now. Whoa, he’s going to try to _pass_ on the curve? There’s no way he can hang on to that…”

But Zuko _does_ hang on, and he enters the final straight just a hair in front, his opponent catching sight of him, his eyes widening. In this instant, Katara knows the race is all but won. There’s no coming back when you take your eyes off the track.

“COME ON ZUKO! COME ON!”

Adrenaline is pumping through Katara’s veins. She stops narrating for Toph, who is jumping up and down and yelling in excitement anyway. Katara had never imagined she’d be cheering so ardently for Zuko Sozin, but here she was, screaming her heart out.

Zuko crosses the finish line more than a foot in front of the other runner. Even from fifty meters away, Katara can see his chest heaving as he tries to catch his breath.

Katara and Toph wander over to join the celebration. The boys are giving each other high-fives, Zuko still struggling to breathe. As they wait for the announcement of their finalized time, Katara and Toph give Sokka a hug.

“Water Twins!” Sokka says enthusiastically. “Not bad for the first meet of the season.”

“Yeah,” Katara says happily. “Decent start.”

“We’re gonna go cool down. Meet you back here to watch Aang finish up?”

“Sounds good.”

The boys gather the sweats they had abandoned at the start line and shove them back on. Before they set off, Katara works up the nerve to go over to Zuko.

“That was amazing,” she says. “Great race, Zuko.”

Zuko’s face is still red from the race, and his breathing is unsteady. He looks surprised, but she guesses it might just be exhaustion from running. She has trouble controlling her facial muscles after running a four hundred.

“Oh, uh… thanks, Katara.”

“Zuko! Come on, man, let’s go!”

Zuko gives her an awkward nod and sets off. Katara turns towards the high jump pit, where Aang is preparing for another jump. She, Toph, and Suki walk over together.

“So, talking to Zuko now, are we?” Toph teases.

“He’s not so bad, I guess,” Katara says begrudgingly.

Suki smirks, amused.

“I don’t suppose his great athletic gift changed your mind?”

“Why would it?”

“Because you’ve got a thing for sprinters,” Toph cracks. “Remember when you liked Jet?”

“That was two years ago!” Katara protests. 

“You _do_ tend to like guys who are good at sports. Or good at anything, really. Remember when you had a crush on that kid who was a chess champion?”

“I do _not_ have a crush on Zuko!” Katara protests hotly. “Just because he’s not a jerk doesn’t mean he’s cool. And he _did_ have an amazing race — why shouldn’t I pay him a compliment?”

“Mmm-hmm” Suki says in a smug tone. “Fine, you don’t like Zuko.”

“Yeah, because she _looooves_ him.”

“Toph!”

“Oh, lighten up, Sugar Queen. You’re so perfect at everything all the time. Let us have one thing to tease you about: your terrible taste in guys.”

Katara wants to storm off angrily, but Aang’s next turn is coming up and he looks nervous. She stays to support Aang, glaring daggers at Toph that she cannot see.

She does _not_ have a crush on Zuko. So what if he was handsome and a gifted athlete and really smart and also asked her for help with chemistry homework? Why would she like a guy like that?

As she watches Aang soar over the high jump post, she wonders if her performance at this meet was a victory or a defeat.

—

Two weeks later, the Bosco High School track team loads up on the bus for their first away meet. Katara sits next to Aang, and they spend the ride swapping silly memes and talking about their day at school. Katara likes talking to Aang before track meets because it takes her mind off the pressure she’s about to face. She has plenty of time to get nervous about her races once they get there.

The meet goes better on paper than the first one: Katara wins every single race she’s in. It feels really good, but she knows that it is because they are facing a weaker opponent. She still hasn’t set a personal record yet, despite her efforts. The good news is that all of her friends perform well, too, so everyone is in a good mood for the ride home.

They get back on the bus, Sokka and Suki making a beeline for the back so they can spend the ride snuggling and whispering to each other. It would be cute if it didn’t involve her brother. Meanwhile Aang and Toph run lines for their acting class, and Katara sits in her own row, reviewing for her chemistry exam. It was good that Katara had had plenty of wins today; she wasn’t so sure how tomorrow’s exam would turn out for her.

She looks up in time to see Zuko making his way towards the back of the bus. Most of the seats are already taken except for the one next to Katara. He balks, looking like he’s about to turn back to look for seats in the front, when Katara shoves her backpack onto the floor.

“You can sit here,” she offers. “But I need to study.”

Zuko spots the chemistry textbook and takes a seat.

“Can I look at your book, too? I forgot mine at home.”

Katara angles the book so they can both read it. The bus rumbles to life and they set off. After a few minutes, Katara shoves the book into Zuko’s hands.

“Carsick?”

“Ugh, I don’t know why I always sit in the back,” she complains, closing her eyes. “It’s so much worse back here.”

“We could try some practice questions instead?”

Katara cracks open one eye. Zuko looks nervous, but she’s not sure why.

“Yeah, that’s probably a better way to study than just re-reading it. I got a few wrong on the last homework — did you get number fifteen?”

The bus gets stuck in traffic, so it takes almost an hour to get back to school. Normally, Katara gets irritated when this happens because it cuts into her study time. But studying with Zuko is really helpful, and they spend most of the bus ride reviewing the material. Katara and Zuko seem to have opposite skills: Katara is good at the big picture stuff while Zuko seems to have every factoid memorized.

“Anyone can learn how to memorize stuff,” Zuko says, flushing a bit when she points out this strength. “I was in a lot of spelling bees as a kid,” he admits.

“Hah! That’s adorable!”

Zuko scowls and flushes even more. Katara tries smiling wider so he knows she isn’t laughing at him, but he just seems confused.

“Did you want to do it, or did you parents make you?” she asks.

Zuko’s expression hardens.

“My mom thought it would be fun for me, but my dad made me compete.”

Something in Zuko’s voice sets off alarm bells in Katara’s head.

“Oh,” is all she can think to say.

Zuko seems to realize the shift in mood and tries to redirect.

“So, uh… what about your parents? Do they come to the track meets and stuff?”

Katara’s insides squirm. It’s never gotten easier to explain her situation.

“My dad can’t usually make it. He’s a police chief, so he works crazy hours. Sometimes he can come to the weekend invitationals.” 

She hesitates for a moment — the subject of her mom makes most people uncomfortable — but she figures Zuko will eventually find out anyway. It’s not like it’s a secret. It’s just hard to talk about.

“My mom died when we were little,” she explains, not quite meeting Zuko’s gaze. “But I like to think she’d come if she could.”

Silence falls as Katara fidgets. She folds over the corner of a page in her chemistry book, not sure how to alleviate the awkwardness.

“I lost my mom, too.”

Katara’s eyes snap up. Zuko is also staring down at the chemistry book, his jaw set. It’s difficult to tell by his expression if he is angry or sad, but Katara understands it. She’s felt it herself, after all.

Katara knows anger. And now she knows _why_ Zuko is angry.

“My mom had leukemia,” she offers. “A really aggressive kind. They didn’t catch it until it was too late.”

Zuko nods, swallowing. She wonders if he will share — she doesn’t really expect him to — but she hasn’t met many other kids who have lost their moms. She wants to tell him that it’s okay, he can talk to her, but Katara hadn’t wanted to talk to anyone for years. Aang was the first person who didn’t know about her mom when they met in middle school, and it had taken her six months to explain why her mom never picked her up from school.

“My mom was in a car accident two years ago,” Zuko whispers. Katara can barely hear him over the rumble of the bus.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she says quietly. She feels simultaneously jealous and horrified: she wishes she had the extra years with her mom Zuko had had, but she had also been able to say goodbye to her mother. To have her there one day and gone the next with no warning…

Katara has a strong urge to take Zuko’s hand, but she holds back, remembering how he had flinched when she sat next to him two weeks prior. Clearly, he did not like to be touched. Sokka hadn’t either after their mom died — the Water Twins high five had been their only physical contact for years. It was only since he had started dating Suki the previous fall that he had allowed people to hug him properly.

Katara and Zuko sit in heavy silence as the bus rolls into the school parking lot. The team nosily gathers their things. A small group of parents are waiting to pick up their kids, including Toph’s extremely overprotective parents. Knowing them, they had probably been calling Toph incessantly for the past twenty minutes, worried about the lateness of the bus. Fortunately, Toph’s parents always give Aang a ride home as well, and he does a good job of diffusing the tension between Toph and her parents. Aang is the perfect buffer for any situation. Katara gives him a hug goodbye before they clamber off the bus.

Zuko slings his track bag over his shoulder as he sets out through the parking lot.

“Hey!” Katara calls after him. Zuko turns to look at her quizzically. “Want a ride?”

“You don’t know where I live,” he points out.

“Yeah, but you’re walking, which means you can’t be too far.”

“I might be in the opposite direction from you.”

“It’s cool. We don’t mind. Hey, Sokka!” she shouts, turning. “Can we give Zuko a ride?”

Zuko tries to protest, but Sokka grins, tossing Katara his keys.

“Sure thing, man! Just give me a sec.”

“Come on,” Katara says, jerking her head towards Sokka’s car. “This usually takes a while. At least now I’ve got someone to wait with while Sokka and Suki make out.”

Zuko casts an amused look back at the bus where Sokka and Suki are locked in a rather passionate embrace.

“Why doesn’t he just give her a ride home instead of making out in the parking lot?” Zuko asks.

“Suki drives to school in her own car, and as much as Sokka likes her, there is no way he’s getting up extra early to pick her up. They would be late every day. Besides, it’s a good thing he doesn’t drive her home because I would be trapped in the car while they were making out.”

Katara gives a little shudder of horror and Zuko laughs. She shudders again. Zuko has a nice laugh.

She pops the trunk and throws in her bag. Zuko follows suit and she closes the trunk, leaning against it while they wait.

“Thanks for studying with me on the bus,” she says. “It was really helpful.”

“No problem. You’re really good at chemistry.”

Katara feels herself blush. She hopes Zuko doesn’t notice.

“Maybe next time we can swap papers for English class?”

“Yeah, that sounds good. Unless you want to sit with someone else,” he adds quickly.

“Well, I always sit with Aang on the way there. I get nervous before the meet and when I get nervous, I get chatty. Aang likes talking, so it helps. But on the way back I’m happy to study with you.”

Zuko casts her an evaluating look.

“Are you nervous now?”

Katara’s brow furrows.

“No. Why would think that?”

“Because you’re talking to me. You never really talked to me before.”

“Oh!” she says, utterly embarrassed. “I, uh…”

“Alright people, let’s get a move on!” Sokka interrupts happily. He grabs the keys from Katara and goes to open the driver side. “Zuko, where do you live?”

Katara distracts herself from her embarrassment by getting Zuko to type his address into her phone. She places it in the cell phone holder that Sokka has affixed to the dashboard and they make their way out of the parking lot.

“Hey, Seventh and Sing Street… do you live next to that tea place, the Jasmine Dragon?” she asks.

Zuko fidgets.

“Uh, I live above it actually.”

“What! That place is awesome. I would get boba there all the time if I could.”

“Yeah, Katara is like, _obsessed_ with bubble tea.”

Katara reaches forward to smack Sokka on the arm. Zuko grins sheepishly.

“Actually,” he says, a hint of pride in his voice, “it’s my uncle’s place.”

“Your uncle owns the Jasmine Dragon?”

“Yep.”

“Whoa, that’s awesome!” Katara says excitedly. “You must get tea all the time.”

Zuko looks embarrassed again.

“Uh, actually, not really.”

“What? But it’s so good!”

“Well… I kind of told my uncle that tea was just hot leaf juice.”

“Hah!” Sokka laughs. “I bet he loved that.”

Zuko grimaces.

“I mean, it _is_ though. That’s just a fact.”

“And coffee is just dry bean juice,” Katara points out. “That doesn’t make it better.”

“True,” Zuko agrees. “I actually don’t really like coffee, either. But I don’t know,” he adds, fidgeting. “I guess liking tea is kind of my uncle’s thing so I didn’t want it be _my_ thing, you know?”

Katara’s not entirely sure she understands, but she can see a teenage boy not thinking it was cool to follow in his uncle’s footsteps, even if his uncle _did_ serve the best milk tea in town.

The rest of the car ride is spent re-hashing the details of the track meet. The journey is short — Zuko only lives a mile from school — and when they arrive, Katara jumps out to move into the front seat of the car. She spots a slightly portly man closing up the tea shop. He waves happily at Zuko, who looks embarrassed again. The man walks over and Zuko looks absolutely mortified. Katara tries not to smirk at his discomfort.

“Hello!” the man says in a friendly voice. “My name is Iroh. You must be Zuko’s teammates.”

Zuko shoulders are level with his chin as he ducks his head in embarrassment. Katara doesn’t see why. His uncle seems super nice.

“I’m Katara,” she responds, shaking Iroh’s hand. “This is my brother Sokka.”

Sokka leans forward to be more visible from the driver’s seat. He gives a little wave.

“My nephew has told me that there are many nice people on the track team,” Iroh continues. “It was very kind of you to give him a ride home.”

“No problem!” Sokka says.

“Come on, uncle,” Zuko says weakly. “We should let them go home.”

“Of course,” Iroh says. “It was very nice to meet you, Katara, Sokka.”

“It was nice to meet you, too” Katara answers honestly. “Your tea shop makes the best boba.”

Iroh beams at her. Zuko shrinks even further into himself.

“Ah, a conneiseur!” Iroh says, delighted. “Please, you must come by sometime with Zuko. A tea on the house for his friends!”

As much as Sokka teases Katara for her love of bubble tea, she knows he’ll come with her to fulfill Iroh’s promise. Sokka could never turn away free food.

“Uncle…” Zuko groans.

“Yes, yes, let’s get some dinner for you,” Iroh says, still smiling at Katara.

“Bye, Zuko,” Katara says, getting back in the car. Sokka gives another wave.

“Wait!”

Before Sokka can pull away, Katara leans out of the window.

“Zuko, what’s your number? I was going to go over chapter nine again for chemistry. Can I text you if I have a question?”

Zuko looks taken aback. Iroh looks happier than ever. Zuko shuffles over to her awkwardly and puts his number in her phone. She sends him a gif of a dramatic hamster and Zuko’s phone lets off a buzz in the pocket of his sweatpants.

“There, now you have mine!” she says.

Zuko gives her a timid smile. It makes her heart flop around in her chest uncomfortably.

As Sokka merges back into traffic, Katara stares at her phone. After a minute, Zuko texts her back with a gif of a dog in a party hat.

_Oh no_.

Toph and Suki were never going to let her live down this crush when they found out.

—

Fortunately for Katara, she is able to keep her budding crush under wraps. Most of her interactions with Zuko are school-related, and her friends tune the two of them out when they are deep into study mode. It feels safer to keep her conversations with Zuko focused on classes. She rationalizes that it’s hard to develop feelings for someone with whom you only discuss electron orbitals and trigonometric functions. 

This line of thinking, however, does not work out in the way she hopes. Not only is Katara impressed by Zuko’s quick thinking, she also finds it hard to keep a wall between them when they share their history or English assignments. They become entangled in complex issues like class and race in society, and although Zuko isn’t always the most verbose person, reading his work makes Katara feel like she’s getting a glimpse into his brain. She likes what she sees, and it only makes her want more.

One of the upsides to their new friendship is that Katara can spend her Sunday study sessions at the Jasmine Dragon where Iroh supplies her and Zuko with a large bubble tea. Zuko relents to drinking one to join Katara, and while he pretends he is indifferent to the beverage, he doesn’t turn down his uncle’s future offers. Katara tries to protest that she doesn’t need free tea but Zuko explains that his uncle would be offended if she paid.

“But I have to,” she insists. “It would be rude of me to take advantage of free tea all the time.”

“I don’t think uncle sees it as free,” Zuko says, shifting uncomfortably.

“What do you mean?”

“Well…” Zuko’s face goes a little pink. “Uncle doesn’t like that I spend so much time alone. I guess he figures if he gives you tea, you’ll come hang out with me.”

Katara stares at Zuko.

“You know I’m not just here for free tea, right?”

“I am!” Sokka cracks from a nearby corner. He and Suki occasionally come by on dates, while Aang and Toph join in every other weekend when they don’t have practice for the school play.

“Well, I’m not,” Katara huffs. “And this is a _private_ conversation, Sokka.”

Sokka gives a nonchalant wave as he and Suki rise to leave. Katara glares at her brother until he’s out the door. She turns back to Zuko, who is staring at his textbook with unseeing eyes.

“I mean it,” Katara reiterates. “I like studying with you, with or without tea.”

“More fun than studying alone, right?” Zuko says with a shrug.

“No, it’s actually fun,” Katara admits. “You’re pretty cool, Zuko.”

Zuko’s shoulders rise up around his ears. Katara wishes it weren’t so easy to embarrass him. She’s just trying to be nice, and it makes _her_ embarrassed that she can’t just pay him a compliment without it being a whole thing. Was she doing it wrong? Could he tell she liked him? Her stomach clenches. Maybe he did know she liked him, and that was what made him uncomfortable?

Katara puts her boba to the side. She’s not very hungry anymore.

Zuko, on the other hand, soldiers forward.

“Okay, so I tried problem number seven but when I plug it into my calculator, everything cancels out to zero. I feel like that either means I did it right, or I really screwed up. What did you get?”

Katara lets out a sigh of relief. Trigonometry was safer ground than emotions.

As the weather warms, Katara’s race times drop. She sets a personal record in both her hurdles events, and then does it again two weeks later. She’s excited for their first weekend invitational track meet out of town. The one snag is that her dad is coming, which she would normally love, but it means she can’t ride back on the bus with Zuko. She hopes she can persuade her dad to give Zuko a ride home, too.

Katara’s first race is a disaster. She missteps on the third hurdle and almost goes down in a heap. She manages to save herself at the last minute, but the race is as good as over. She crosses the finish line in last place, a full four seconds off her best. She spends most of the meet fuming in anger.

She gets redemption during the three hundred meters. Even before the race starts, she is determined to get this one right. Her dad is in the stands, and this is the most competitive field she has gone up against. The conditions are right to push for a personal best.

With a bang, she leaps from the blocks, flying across the track to attack the first hurdle. She makes it over cleanly, her trailing leg snapping back down to the earth, propelling her forward. She can distantly hear cheering, but as usual, she can’t make it out. Still, she uses it to drive herself forward. She gives everything she has and she almost falls as she sticks out her chest at the finish. She has no idea who won, but she has a feeling it was a good time.

It’s such a big meet, it takes a while to make the announcements of who won overall, as there are several heats. She walks onto the center field where Sokka is waiting to give her a high-five.

“Have a good race,” she pants. Sokka smiles and goes off to run some last-minute intervals.

Katara has some time to kill before her next race, so she takes her time with her cool-down. She wanders over to the jumping pits, where Aang is beaming at her.

“Great race, Katara!” 

“Thanks, Aang. How’s it going over here?”

“Pretty good. New PR in long jump.”

“Aang, that’s amazing! Congratulations!”

“Thanks! Zuko PR’d, too.”

Katara turns her head to see Zuko walking towards them. He’s wearing his jumping spikes, so he is walking awkwardly on his heels to avoid scratching them up on the concrete.

“Congrats on the PR,” Katara tells Zuko.

“Oh, thanks,” Zuko says with a little smile. “Yeah, wasn’t expecting it, but it was a really fast heat.”

Katara gives him a confused look. 

“Oh, you meant long jump? Yeah, that was all thanks to Aang, actually. He helped me fix up my steps before we started.”

Katara beams at Aang, who looks pleased.

“Oh, I’m on deck!” Aang says, rising to prepare for his next jump.

“So, a record in long jump, a record in the four hundred… you gonna make it a triple record-breaking day with the triple jump?”

“Nah,” Zuko says, shrugging. “Kinda tired and I want to save something for the relay later.”

Katara nods in agreement. Before she can respond, an announcement comes on the PA system before the 800m begins.

“Winners from the four hundred meters,” a voice says mechanically. “Boy’s varsity. In first place, from Bosco High School: Zuko Sozin.”

The rest of the announcement is drowned out by Katara’s squeal of excitement.

“Zuko, you won! That’s amazing!”

Katara forgets herself: she grabs Zuko and pulls him in for a hug. He jerks, surprised, and Katara immediately lets him go.

“Oh, sorry,” she says quickly. “I was excited. I didn’t mean to—”

“That’s okay,” Zuko cuts her off. “Thanks, Katara.”

Aang, having just finished his jump, bounds over in excitement.

“Zuko! Awesome job, dude! Can I come with you to get your medal once you’re done with your last jump?”

“Don’t you have to go to the high jump after?”

“Yeah, but it can wait a bit. I’ve gotta go pick up my long jump medal, too.”

“Wow, good job, Aang!” Katara says.

Another announcement comes on over the PA system, interrupting Aang and Katara’s hug.

“Results for the three hundred meter hurdles,” the same bored voice drones. “Varsity girls. In first place, from Bosco High School: Katara Waters.”

“Yeah!” Aang yells, pumping his fist. “Go Katara!”

He pulls her into another hug. Katara grins. She knew she had done well, but she hadn’t really thought she would win.

Zuko is looking at her and Aang a little strangely, but when they break apart, he straightens up.

“Congratulations, Katara.”

“Thanks, Zuko. Oh, we can all go get our medals together!”

“Good idea!” Aang says, “Hey, Zuko, looks like you’re up.”

“What? Oh, right.”

Zuko goes off for his final jump. Aang and Katara watch as he sails into the sand pit.

“Scratch!” yells the referee.

Aang’s face falls a bit.

“Oh no,” he says quietly. “He also scratched his first two.”

Zuko trudges over, scowling and dusting off sand from his shorts.

“Hey, sorry, Zuko. It happens.”

“It’s fine,” Zuko says curtly. “It’s my fault.”

“We can work on steps more on Monday, right?” Aang says hopefully.

“Yeah, whatever.”

Zuko swaps his spikes for sneakers, avoiding Katara and Aang’s gaze. Aang rushes off to check in at the high jump pit while Katara hangs back, waiting for Zuko to tug on his sweats.

“If it makes you feel better,” Katara offers, “I totally messed up my first race today. Tripped on a hurdle.”

Zuko’s eyes widen.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, fine. Nothing hurt but my pride. My dad was watching,” she explains.

“Oh,” Zuko says quietly. “It’s nice that he came.”

“You can meet him after if you want,” Katara says, trying to sound casual. “We can give you a ride home.”

“You don’t have to—”

“I’m back!” Aang chimes in, bouncing before them. “Let’s go pick up our gold!”

Aang chatters excitedly as they head over to the results tent. Zuko, Aang, and Katara collect their medals; Zuko has a bronze from his morning long jump to add to his haul. Aang has to run back to the high jump pit, but Katara and Zuko make their way over to the chain-link fence papered over with the day’s results. Katara checks her time: forty-five seconds on the dot, a new personal best. 

“Nice,” Zuko says, smiling over her shoulder. He holds up a hand and she high-fives him. He smiles more widely still and her heart skips a beat. 

As they amble back towards the track to prepare for their relays, the light hits Zuko’s medals just right to glint in the sun. Katara seizes her courage.

“Hey, we should take a picture with our medals!” she proposes.

Zuko stares at her, frowning. 

“Uh, sure I can take a picture of you.”

“No, I want one of both of us,” she corrects, pulling out her phone and flipping the camera.

“Why?” Zuko asks, bewildered.

“Because you’re my friend and I don’t have any pictures of you. Come on, just one picture?”

Zuko stares at her for a moment, his mouth moving soundlessly. Finally, he gives a nervous laugh and turns to face the camera.

“Okay, ready? Cheese! Ooh, that was a good one. Can we do one where we do the biting our medals thing? Where does that come from, anyway?”

“I think if it were real gold, biting it would dent it.”

“Oh, well, good thing these are definitely not the real deal. Okay, one more for safety.”

She snaps two pictures for good measure and tucks her phone away. She feels a flutter of nerves as she turns to face Zuko.

“Thanks,” she says shyly. “I like having pictures of people.”

“Yeah, uh, no problem.”

They walk back to find their teams starting to warm up for the relay. Katara goes to ditch her sweats when Zuko turns to her.

“Hey, uh… would you mind… would you text me one of those pictures?”

Katara scarcely holds back a giggle.

“Yeah, sure.”

Thankfully, her warm-up routine is so ingrained that it doesn’t matter that she is distracted. Zuko wanted her picture! Technically, it was _their_ picture, but still. She would have to scroll through the few options carefully. What if her braid looked weird after working out? If he was going to have a picture of her, she had to be sure she looked her best.

The final relay is a bit of a mixed bag. Katara runs well — really well — but the rest of the field is strong and they end up in fourth. It’s still a good time for her team, but it’s a bit disappointing to miss out on another medal.

The boys race, however, is a much more even one, and three teams, including Bosco High, alternatively take the lead. Toph, who proudly bears her shot put medal around her neck, anxiously listen to Katara and Suki’s attempts to describe the race.

“Will you guys stop screaming and tell me what’s going on?”

“Sorry, Toph, but it’s really exciting and, OH COME ON, SOKKA, YOU CAN RUN FASTER THAN THAT!”

It all comes down to the final runner. Katara knows that Zuko has an edge — he had, after all, won the individual event earlier — but she knows that at the end of a long meet like this, fatigue could play a big role. Katara leaves Toph and Suki near the finish and sprints across the inside of the field to a less crowded area.

“COME ON ZUKO!” she screams as he approaches. “YOU CAN DO IT! GO, ZUKO, GO!”

He flies past her, the other two boys hot on his heels. Katara sprints back to Suki and Toph, who are both bouncing with anxiety. Sokka, Jet, and Haru are bellowing encouragements. The spectators in the stands are cheering wildly. The race is so close, Zuko is so close…

It’s a photo-finish, and all the competitors wait anxiously for the announcement. Zuko’s face twitches in agony as he tries to stretch out his legs.

“By three tenths of a second,” the PA announces, “our winner is Bosco High!”

Sokka, Jet, and Haru explode in cheers.

“HELL YEAH! YEAH, MAN! YEAH!”

It’s all very macho, and they run over to thump Zuko on the back. It’s hard to say if Zuko enjoys this expression of camaraderie, but he doesn’t tell them to stop. The whole team celebrates as the meet organizers make their final announcements. 

They stick around long enough for a cool-down and to watch Aang’s final jump. For being the least competitive person Katara knew, Aang was a hell of a competitor. He ends up sweeping all three of the jumps, his medals jangling around his neck. Katara grabs her friends before they take off and drags her dad over to take a picture of all of them. This one was for sure going up on Instagram.

Toph and Aang take off, Toph’s parents anxious to beat the traffic. Toph rolls her eyes, but Aang just smiles serenely and suggests they go over their lines together. Toph gives an evil grin; her parents hate that she is interested in acting, and this will be sure to annoy them.

“Great job today, honey,” Katara’s dad, Hakoda, says as he pulls her into a hug. 

“Thanks for coming, Dad,” Katara says, smiling up at him. “Oh, could we give Zuko a ride home? He lives really close to Suki anyway.”

“Sure,” her dad says, smiling. “As long as you kids don’t mind piling in the back!”

Katara and Sokka have a minor sibling quibble about where to sit — Katara suggests that Sokka sit with Suki and let Zuko ride in the front, while Sokka insists that Zuko would feel awkward riding up with their dad.

“He’s taller than you, Sokka. Let him have more room.”

“Um,” Zuko says, nervously. “I’m fine in the back.”

“See?” Sokka says smugly.

Katara ends up wedged between Suki and Zuko, which shouldn’t be a big deal, except Zuko seems to jump every time she so much as breathes. She knows Zuko isn’t very touchy-feely, but it makes her feel bad about herself. He wanted that picture of them, didn’t he? Then why did it seem like he couldn’t stand for her to touch him?

Suki is let out first, and Sokka goes to walk her to her door ‘like a gentleman,’ as he insists. Katara suspects he wants an opportunity to make out with her for a minute; the doorway of Suki’s house is not visible from the car.

Katara slides away from Zuko and he looks relieved. Katara tries to bite down on her hurt feelings.

“So, Zuko,” Hakoda starts. “Katara tells me you are in many of the same AP classes as her.”

Now Katara knows why Zuko had been so embarrassed for her to meet his uncle. Even though her dad’s statement is objectively neutral, she wants to curl up into a ball. Why did her dad have to reveal that Katara was _talking_ about Zuko when he wasn’t around? He was basically telling Zuko she liked him — how could he not see that?

“Uh, yeah,” Zuko says nervously. “Katara is really good at chemistry.”

Hakoda smiles and Zuko looks a little less nervous. Katara forgets sometimes that her dad seems so serious to other people.

“Yes, she gets that from her mom,” Hakoda says warmly, smiling at Katara in the rearview mirror. “She was a nurse.”

“Oh,” Zuko says. “That’s cool.”

“What about you, Zuko? What subjects do you like most?”

“Uh, English class I guess?”

Fortunately, Sokka returns to rescue the awkward conversation. When they pull up to Zuko’s apartment minutes later, Zuko jumps out quickly.

“Good job today!” Katara says, wishing she had an excuse to walk Zuko to his door.

Zuko gives her a small smile.

“Yeah, you too, Katara. And you, Sokka,” he adds as Sokka blasts finger guns at him.

“See you Monday, man!”

As they drive away, Katara pulls out her phone, swiping through the photos her dad took. She picks her favorite and goes to post it on Instagram. _The gold might not be real, but these guys are_ she writes, swiping through to tag her friends. She taps each of their faces: @aangsavatar, @boomerangguy, @kyoshifangirl, @blindbandit. She tries to search for Zuko, but nothing comes up. She posts the picture anyway, curious as to why she can’t find him. Did he not have an Instagram?

After dinner with her dad and Sokka — the usual Saturday night post-track meet pizza celebration — Katara scrolls through her phone again. She texts Zuko the photo of the two of them and is tempted to ask for his Instagram handle, but for some reason she cannot explain, she hesitates. Instead she grabs her computer and opens up a Google search.

_Search: Zuko Sozin_. Maybe there were a bunch of Zukos out there and that was why she couldn’t find his name?

As it turns out, Zuko Sozin is pretty uncommon. Zuko himself appears to be the top few hits; most of the results are links to old track meets. Curious, Katara clicks on one from the year before.

It’s nothing earth-shattering, just some records of Zuko’s junior-varsity races and events. She’s about to click off the link when something at the top catches her eye.

_Caldera City High School_.

Zuko had never mentioned he had lived in Caldera City before. Katara had just assumed he had transferred from a local high school, but Caldera City was out of state and at least a five hour drive. Zuko’s arrival at Bosco High School had been a really big move.

Katara’s heart sinks. She thinks back to her conversation with Aang at the start of the track season when he suggested that Zuko had probably changed schools against his will. Something bad had happened to Zuko, but Katara had no idea what. Unable to resist, she opens a new search.

_Search: Zuko Sozin, Caldera City_.

More track records show up, so she tries again with just his last name. This time, news articles appear about an Ozai Sozin, who had been arrested for child endangerment charges and assault with a deadly weapon.

Katara’s stomach drops. The room gets hot and the taste in her mouth sours. She frantically clicks off the page and shuts her computer, horrified.

What the hell is she supposed to do with this information? Confirm it with Zuko? No, that sounds wrong. If Zuko had not mentioned it, surely he wanted it to stay unmentioned, right?

Katara is exhausted from the meet, but she can’t fall asleep. Her mind keeps imagining worse and worse scenarios, all of them about how Zuko got his distinctive scar. She feels horrible, both for Zuko and for trying to snoop into his life. She had just wanted to tag him in a picture on Instagram, and somehow she had opened up Pandora’s box. She feels sick with regret.

To make matters worse, she has a study date to work on a history project with Zuko at the tea shop the next day. She goes alone — Sokka drops her off on his way to the movies with Suki — and she steps nervously inside. Iroh greets her over the crowd with a wave.

“Hello, Katara! My nephew will be out shortly. He told me all about your success yesterday. I offer you my congratulations and, of course, tea!”

He hands her a glass prepared just the way she likes it. Her heart twists.

“Thanks, Mr. Sozin.”

“Please, call me Iroh.”

Katara nods stiffly and goes to her favorite corner, laying out her history textbook. She stares at it blankly.

Zuko emerges from the back, his hair a little damp like he has just taken a shower. He gives Katara a smile that makes her stomach sink lower. He looks happy to see her because he has no idea what kind of a lousy, nosy person she is.

“What’s with you?” he asks as he settles down across from her.

Katara bites her lip.

“Um,” she starts slowly. “Well, last night I put up the picture of all of us at the meet, and I went to tag everyone and…”

Zuko stiffens.

“I’m not on social media,” he says mechanically.

This throws Katara a little bit. She hadn’t even gotten to the bad part yet and he already seemed upset.

“I figured. I couldn’t find you.”

Zuko relaxes a little bit.

“Oh, okay. Is that what’s wrong?”

“No, I… Zuko, I did something really bad.”

Zuko looks surprised.

“What happened?”

“I… I googled your name.”

Zuko’s face pales. He grips the table so forcefully that his knuckles go white.

“Zuko, I only clicked on a track record, but there was something else about your dad... We don’t have to talk about it —”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay, but —“

“ _I don’t want to talk about it._ ”

Tears of shame spring to Katara’s eyes.

“Zuko, I’m _so sorry_. I shouldn’t have been snooping, I had no idea, I…”

“Excuse me,” Zuko says tightly.

He stands up and strides through the back. Iroh gives his nephew a confused look and glances over at Katara. She drops her head into her hands, trying to fight back a sob.

She had ruined _everything_.

The worst part of all of it is that she still needs Zuko’s help on the project. She spends ten miserable minutes alone at the table, trying to focus on the textbook in front of her. Her boba remains untouched; she doesn’t deserve a treat for being the worst friend ever.

She finally manages to focus on the reading for long enough that she doesn’t notice Zuko’s approach until he’s sitting down across from her. She gives a startled jump of fright.

Zuko stares down at the table instead of making eye contact, but he looks resolute. His eyes look a little puffier than before, but Katara knows that hers do, too. Perhaps they can both silently agree to ignore it.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Zuko reiterates firmly. “But I’m not mad at you.”

Katara blinks in surprise.

“But… but I was being nosy. I should never have —“

“You were curious,” Zuko says, sighing. “Everyone is. The kids in my Latin class have been trying to think of a story on how I got this —“ he points to his scar — “every week since I got here.”

“What? That’s terrible!”

“It was annoying at first,” Zuko admits. “Now they’re come up with the idea that I was a secret ninja before, and that’s kind of cool at least.”

“Just because I was curious doesn’t give me the right to pry.”

“No, it doesn’t. And like I said, I don’t want to talk about it… right now. Maybe…” Zuko takes a deep breath. “Maybe someday I can but… not yet.”

“Zuko, you don’t _ever_ have to tell me about it if you don’t want to.”

“You don’t want to know?”

Zuko worries his lower lip between his teeth. Katara thinks this might be a test of some kind.

“I don’t _need_ to know,” Katara says slowly. “But I’m here to listen. If you want to talk about it, or not talk about it… either is fine with me. I know it can be hard to talk about stuff that hurts. I didn’t come here to ask for your story. I just wanted to apologize. You know, for snooping.”

Zuko nods, taking a deep breath. He finally lifts his head to meet her eyes.

“There’s nothing to apologize for. You didn’t know because I didn’t tell you. It’s okay, Katara. I’m not mad at you.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Katara smiles weakly. Zuko nods.

“So, history project?”

“Yeah.”

They get to work.

—

Spring break approaches, and so does the annual Spring Fling dance. Katara harbors a secret hope that a certain someone will ask her to go, but she knows that chances are slim. If Zuko can barely tolerate a hug, it seems unlikely he will want to dance. Still, Katara plans to keep up her usual tradition with her friends.

They are riding the bus back from a cross-town meet when Sokka pokes his head up from his make out session with Suki.

“Hey, you guys all got tickets to the dance next Friday, right?”

Aang and Toph nod and go back to their argument about Pokémon. Zuko turns to Katara and for a brief second, hope flares in her chest.

“Is he serious?”

Well, so much for that.

“You don’t want to go?” Suki asks.

Aang and Toph pause their argument again to peer over at Zuko. He frowns.

“I don’t dance,” he says stiffly.

“Neither does Toph,” Aang says cheerfully.

Zuko’s brow furrows.

“Why do you go then?” he asks Toph.

“Because you get all the best dirt on everyone. So much drama sitting on the sidelines — it’s better than TV! Plus, what else are we going to do on a Friday night?”

“The best part isn’t even the dance,” Suki adds.

“Yeah!” Sokka says, excited. “It’s the after party!”

“Whatever you’re imagining,” Katara says upon seeing Zuko’s reaction, “tone it down like a thousand notches.”

“Hey, we have fun!” Aang protests. “We go back to Toph’s place and hang out and have a sleepover.”

Zuko stares at them all, wide-eyed.

“Are you… are you inviting me to a sleepover?”

“Yeah, Sparky,” Toph says with a lazy smile. “You in?”

“Why does she keep calling me ‘Sparky’?” Zuko mutters to Katara under his breath.

“She’s called me ‘Sugar Queen’ since the seventh grade, so beats me.”

“C’mon Zuko, it will be fun!” Toph cajoles.

Zuko gives Katara another side glance.

“Uh, okay, I guess.”

So Zuko doesn’t ask Katara to the dance, but she still holds out some hope because he _is_ going, and that means there’s a non-zero chance she can rope him into a dance. Maybe even a slow dance if she’s lucky.

The evening of the Spring Fling, Sokka drives himself and Katara to pick up Zuko before heading over to the Beifong Estate. It is the biggest house in town; Katara had been positively awe-struck the first time she entered the gates. Zuko, however, hardly bats an eye. Katara vaguely remembers that the article she had found about Zuko’s dad had listed a mind-bogglingly high net worth. Her stomach clenches a bit. It shouldn’t matter that Zuko came from a rich family, but suddenly she is self-conscious about her dress purchased from a second-hand shop. What if Zuko was going to wear some fancy designer suit? Other people at school thought he was good looking, albeit aloof. What if some other, better-dressed girl asked Zuko to dance before Katara worked up the nerve?

They pile out of the car as Aang bikes up; he insisted on biking everywhere when not sharing a ride with Toph to spare her from her prying parents. Suki arrives shortly after and they make their way up the steps to where Toph waits. She shoos the boys away and drags Katara and Suki into her room.

“How bad is it?” Suki asks.

“Horrible,” Toph moans. “It’s got frilly stuff all over it.”

Katara pulls Toph’s dress out of her closet. Toph’s mother loved shopping for her daughter, but unfortunately, they had opposite tastes.

“It’s actually not so bad,” Katara reassures her. “The frilly stuff doesn’t stick out, and it’s kind of an olive green. It will bring out your eyes.”

“Great, because that’s exactly what I’m going for.”

“Try it on. I bet it won’t be that bad.”

Toph tugs on the dress while Suki and Katara appraise her.

“You know what? I can work with this,” Suki says confidently, pulling out a huge box of makeup. Despite her usual tomboy appearance, Suki was practically a makeup artist thanks to hours of YouTube tutorials. “Just how much do you want to annoy your mom?”

“Hm, I guess if the dress isn’t _that_ bad… medium annoyed? Like red lipstick annoyed.”

Toph’s mother was a very traditional, white pearls kind of woman who believed any makeup darker than natural skin tone was inappropriate. Toph, therefore, usually urged Suki to go for maroons and purples, but red was a less nuclear option.

Katara sets to work on her hair while she waits for Suki to finish with Toph. Normally, Katara would do her own simple makeup but tonight she wanted something a little more glammed up.

When Suki turns her brushes on Katara, Toph wanders over to the bed where the dresses are laid out.

“Katara, is this a new dress?” she asks.

“Yes.”

Katara had worn the same dress to the past three school dances. She didn’t see the point in wearing something new every time — it wasn’t like she had had a special date, and dresses weren’t cheap. This dress had caught her eye in the second-hand shop. It wasn’t too fancy, just an A-line, knee length dress. But it was Katara’s favorite shade of teal, and it had a more daring neckline than she would usually wear. She had tried it on and fallen in love with it, and had been eagerly anticipating the dance all week.

“Hm,” Toph says, fingering the dress. “The fabric feels nice. Whoa, Katara, this is a boob dress!”

“A what?”

“I know a deep V when I feel one. This dress is to show off your boobs!”

“No, it’s not!” Katara protests hotly. “It’s not that deep!”

“Oh, I get it,” Toph continues, ignoring Katara. “Sexy dress, Suki doing your makeup… you’re trying to get someone’s attention!”

Katara goes red.

“Shut up!”

“I bet I can guess who it is!”

“Toph!” Suki says sharply. “Cool it, okay?”

“What’s the big deal?” Toph sulks.

“Katara can dress however she wants,” Suki says evenly. “It doesn’t have to be for some guy.”

“Yeah, but it’s fine if she _is_ dressing for some guy’s attention, too. I can play wingwoman!” Toph adds brightly.

Katara’s chest feels tight with embarrassment. She should just admit that Toph was right, but the words get trapped in her throat. They were going to make fun of her or, worse, try to help her. Toph was about as subtle as a sledgehammer; Zuko would know about Katara’s crush within five minutes of Toph knowing and Katara would die of embarrassment.

“Hey,” Suki says softly, sensing Katara’s anxiety. “You know you don’t have to tell us anything, right? If you like someone, that’s your business.”

“But it’s totally Zuko isn’t it?”

“Toph!” Katara squeals, horrified.

“Good choice, Sugar Queen. I think he really likes you.”

“Toph, you can’t say _anything_ to him.”

“Relax, Katara. I’ve kept my mouth shut for weeks.”

Katara glares at Toph suspiciously.

“Who said I’ve liked him for that long?”

“So you _do_ like him.”

“Guys!” Suki says sharply. “Can we continue this after I’m done with Katara’s makeup? It’s going to smudge everywhere if you keep up all this yelling.”

Katara and Toph frown, but they don’t argue. Once Suki is satisfied with her work, she pulls away.

“Okay,” Suki says slowly. “Katara, we’ve suspected you’ve liked Zuko for a little bit. We didn’t say anything to you because we figured you’d tell us eventually when you were ready. _Someone_ ,” Suki adds with a pointed look at Toph, “just couldn’t keep her mouth shut.”

“You’ve all been talking about me behind my back?” Katara whispers.

“No!” Toph says quickly. “Not with Aang or Sokka anyway. It’s just… well, Suki and I have a lot of downtime when we’re throwing, and we — well, Suki — noticed that you and Zuko were always _looking_ at each other across the track.”

“We’re friends,” Katara points out. “I look for you guys when you’re doing your events, too.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Toph says, waving her hands. “But you guys are always in your little nerd world together on the bus, too. I’ll admit that you’ve kept it pretty much under wraps, but we know you too well not to recognize when you have a crush on someone.”

“Great,” Katara says miserably. “So everyone knows?”

“I don’t think so,” Suki says, pulling a face to get her eyeliner just right. “Sokka definitely doesn’t.”

“Aang might,” Toph ventures cautiously. “I think that’s why he wanted to stop running lines at the tea shop. He said we should give you and Zuko ‘space.’ I figured he meant just so you guys could do nerd stuff, but maybe he knows.”

None of this cheers Katara up.

“Come on, Sugar Queen,” Toph adds, punching Katara lightly on the arm. “What’s wrong? You were all giggly and ridiculous when you liked Jet and Haru.”

“Because I didn’t really like _them_ ,” Katara sighs. “I liked the _idea_ of them.”

“Thank God,” Suki mutters. “Imagine if you actually liked Jet for his personality.”

This gets a hint of a smile out of Katara, but her stomach is still uncomfortably clenched.

“Well, if it’s Zuko’s personality you like, at least you’ve chosen well this time,” Toph says. “Zuko is pretty cool. I’ve been working with him on our AP Latin project.”

“Wait, he told me your whole class has been making guesses about his scar. Is that true?”

“Yeah, I told them to knock it off, but when they kept going — they thought they were quiet enough that Zuko couldn’t hear them, stupid dicks. I was the one who got them onto the secret ninja idea. It’s not great, but he told me he thinks it’s funny,” Toph says with a shrug.

“The point is,” Suki says, putting the last touches on her makeup. “We haven’t told anyone we think you like Zuko, and we’re not going to start now.”

“But I am happy to play wingwoman,” Toph interjects.

“No! I mean…. thanks, but I’d rather tell him myself.”

Toph claps her hand with excitement.

“Ooh, are you going to tell him tonight? Is that what the fancy dress is for? This is some grade-A drama.”

“No,” Katara says, shaking her head. “I’m not ready. _Please_ don’t say anything Toph.”

“Hey! I can keep a secret.”

Katara looks doubtful, but Suki catches her eye.

“We’ll be cool, we promise. But… if we can drag Zuko out to the dance floor tonight, you’ll dance with him, right?”

Toph lets out a cackle of excitement, rubbing her hands together. Katara rolls her eyes.

“There is no way he is going to dance. That is _not_ a challenge, Toph. You promise to be cool about this?”

Toph’s ‘yes’ is rather reluctant, but both she and Suki agree to behave. They change into their outfits and do one final primping session before they go to meet up with the boys.

“Hang on!” Toph says suddenly. “Katara, I just want to say, I know I like to make fun of you, but I really hope it works out with Zuko.”

“That’s surprisingly sentimental, Toph.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s all this makeup Suki put on me. It’s making me soft.”

“Group hug?”

Toph gives a little groan, but Suki and Katara happily drag her into their sandwiched embrace. When they pull apart, they are all giggling.

“If you tell anyone I willingly participated in a group hug, you’re dead” Toph quips.

“Hey, you keep my secret, I’ll keep yours.”

Toph grins and they walk out to the backyard where the boys are already dressed and engaged in a rather heated match of ping-pong. Sokka catches sight of them first and immediately abandons his racket to greet Suki.

“Wow, you look amazing,” Sokka says, a rather dumbstruck look on his face.

“Thanks!” Suki says happily, giving him a light kiss.

“You guys look great, too,” Aang adds with a smile. “Toph, that dress is surprisingly not girly.”

“Really? What’s all this frilly stuff on it?”

“Er, I guess it’s lacy, but it’s not pink like that last one. Your dress is nice, too, Katara. It’s not the same as the last one, right?”

Katara smiles. Aang could be a bit airheaded when it came to details.

“Yes, it’s a new dress. Well, new-ish,” she adds, thinking of the second-hand shop.

“Nice,” Aang says happily. “Hey, Toph, wearing these fancy clothes is kind of like dress rehearsal!” 

Toph and Aang start spouting off their lines again, while Suki and Sokka remain intertwined and grinning at each other. Katara turns to Zuko. She’s relieved to see that he is dressed rather simply, and not in some devastatingly chic outfit like she had imagined. In fact, instead of looking sophisticated, his dress shirt makes him look younger and more boyish. He tugs at his sleeves awkwardly; Katara recognizes the motion from how he usually tugs on his hoodies.

“You look really nice, Zuko,” she says. 

“Your hair is down.”

Katara blinks. Was that a bad thing? It wasn’t exactly a compliment. Katara normally just threw her long hair back into a braid; Zuko had never seen her hair down before. Did he not like it?

“Uh, yeah,” she says nervously. “I like to wear it down for parties.”

“It’s really long.”

“Um, yeah,” she repeats, unsure how to respond.

“Oh, don’t you kids look nice!” Toph’s mother emerges from the house, smiling widely. Her smile falters a bit when she see’s Toph’s cherry-red lipstick, but she recovers well enough. “Would you mind taking some pictures?”

This is a pre-dance tradition, and everyone quickly steps into their usual places. Zuko hangs back awkwardly, unsure of where to go.

“Why don’t you stand over there, dear?” Toph mother indicates. Zuko walks over and Toph’s mother considers the composition. “On second thought, maybe the other side?”

Zuko moves stiffly to stand behind Katara. He looks angry, and Katara’s feeling are momentarily hurt. Did he not even want to stand next to her? Did she really look that bad?

Before Toph’s mother raises her phone to take a picture, Zuko swipes his hand over his face, adjusting his hair and tilting himself inwards. Katara suddenly recognizes the problem, but she can’t say anything before Toph’s mom has already snapped the picture and her friends start to disperse.

“Girls in Suki’s car, boys in Sokka’s,” Toph declares loudly.

“I call shotgun!” Aang shouts happily.

“Wait, Zuko,” Katara says quietly as her friends go to grab their things. “Toph’s mom didn’t mean anything about moving you. She’s super crazy about organizing pictures by height.”

Zuko frowns at her.

“It’s fine, Katara. You don’t need to do this.”

“Do what?”

“What you always do. Try to pretend everything is fine.”

“Oh,” Katara says, hurt. “I was just trying to help.”

“Well, I don’t need your help, okay? I know what my face looks like.”

Zuko stalks off to follow Sokka towards his car. Katara stands stock-still in the grass, stunned. Tears start to build, and she blinks furiously to keep them in. She doesn’t want to ruin Suki’s hard work on her makeup.

Katara lets Toph ride in front without their usual friendly fight. This has never happened before, so Suki and Toph immediately know something is wrong. 

“It’s nothing,” Katara says, feeling a lump in her throat. “I’m just being stupid.”

She tries all night to forget about her interaction with Zuko, but it’s hard to push past. Her smile feels forced and her limbs feel heavy. She usually enjoys dancing with Aang — his moves are always exuberant and silly — but her heart just isn’t in it.

After about an hour, Aang gives her concerned look and shoots a glance over at the corner of the room where Toph and Zuko are sitting, watching the festivities.

“Let’s take a water break,” he suggests.

Katara follows him off of the dance floor, glad the water fountain is far away from the rest of her friends.

“What happened?” Aang asks quietly.

“Nothing.”

“Katara…”

“It’s stupid.”

“Is this about Zuko?”

Katara’s stomach drops. 

“What makes you ask that?”

“He was being such a grouch on the car ride over here. Something must’ve happened because he seemed excited before we took pictures”

“He did?”

“Yeah. A little nervous, maybe. I know he doesn’t like dances very much, but we got him to promise to dance once.”

“You did?” Katara asks, shocked.

“Yeah, I told him we usually just danced in a big group anyway. He said he’d just keep Toph company on the sidelines, but we told him usually Toph joins us for one if she has someone to hang on to so people don’t bump into her too much. I joked that usually it was you, but I would dance with Toph if he wanted to dance with you instead. I don’t think he took it as a joke though. He really did want to dance with you.”

Katara’s composure breaks. So much for Suki’s amazing makeup job.

“Whoa!” Aang says, startled by Katara’s tears. “I’m sorry, Katara. I thought you’d want to dance with him.”

“I did,” Katara sniffs. “That’s the problem. He thinks I’m…”

Her throat constricts and she lets out a sob. She didn’t know what Zuko thought she was. He said she was always trying to _’pretend everything was fine_. Did he think she was a fraud? Vapid? Superficial? Her mind supplies her with dozens of hurtful adjectives; she regrets all her time studying vocabulary words for the SAT.

Aang shoots a glance around the abandoned hallway where they are standing. He places his hands on Katara’s shoulders, waiting for her to meet his gaze.

“Katara, what did Zuko do?”

“Nothing,” she says miserably. “I’m the one who… who…”

“Katara, I’ve known you since we were twelve. I find it really hard to believe that you said something so mean to Zuko that’s he’s been pouting about it all night. It has to do with the picture Toph’s mom took, right?”

Haltingly, Katara explains her interaction with Zuko. Aang’s face crumples.

“Oh, Katara, you didn’t do anything wrong,” he says, pulling her into a hug.

“But he said I was always just _pretending_ …”

“He was being a jerk. Look, I like Zuko, and he’s usually a nice guy, but obviously it’s a touchy subject. He should apologize to you.”

“But I—“

“You were trying to be a good friend,” Aang interrupts. “Zuko can get mad all he wants, but he’s got no reason to take it out on you.”

Katara feels a little lighter and wipes her face.

“Is my makeup all messed up?”

“No, you look fine,” Aang assures her. “Do you want to go back to the dance?”

Katara nods and loops her arm with Aang’s. 

The rest of the party is much more fun, although Katara feels a knot in her stomach every time she glances over at Zuko and Toph. Toph seems to be trying to talk to Zuko, which makes Katara nervous, even with Toph’s earlier promise. Neither of them end up on the dance floor all night. Katara isn’t surprised, but she still feels disappointed.

They drive back over to Toph’s and set themselves up for the night in the guest house. This had been another thing to blow Katara’s mind — the Beifongs were so rich, they had an entire guest house that was bigger than Katara’s family’s apartment — but it was really convenient for sleepovers. Toph immediately breaks out her special playing cards to play a round of poker. Katara, who is admittedly terrible at card games, drags Suki into the living room area to learn a K-pop dance routine. Aang, Sokka, and Zuko join Toph for cards, and they all spend the next hour cracking jokes as Toph recounts all the juicy gossip she had acquired at the dance. Zuko looks slightly less angry, and keeps shooting Katara nervous glances. She wonders if Aang had said anything to him on the car ride home; the thought of it makes it difficult to remember all the steps to the dance she’s trying to learn.

As midnight rolls around, Katara and Suki get tired of dancing and go sit in on the card game. Toph grins and hands Katara her phone.

“Here, take a pic for the ‘gram. I want show off that I’m kicking these guys’ butts.”

Katara dutifully snaps pictures while Toph goes through a range of silly poses. Zuko looks on, confused.

“I don’t mean this the wrong way, but…”

“Blind people can use Instagram,” Toph says, anticipating Zuko’s question. “You just have to put in the right image captions.”

Katara pulls out her own phone and pulls up her page, scrolling to the picture she had posted from their track meet.

“Like this,” she says, handing the phone to Zuko.

“Image caption: friends at a high school track and field event posing with victory medals,” Zuko reads aloud. “Left to right, Suki, Sokka, Aang, Katara, and Zuko. Toph kneels in front with fingers up in peace signs.”

Zuko looks up.

“You do that for all your photos?”

“Yeah, how else it Toph supposed to see them?”

“Hey, Zuko, what’s your Insta tag?” Toph asks, taking back her own phone.

“I don’t have one,” Zuko says uncomfortably.

“Oh, okay.”

Zuko seems to be waiting to be challenged about this, but no one follows up. Suki has started snapping a few pictures of people to capture the evening’s festivities; Sokka and Aang are busy posing, pretending to bow to Toph for her amazing card skills.

“Hey, I’m sorry about earlier.”

Katara turns to Zuko, who is watching her with a serious expression on his face.

“Oh, you don’t —“

“I was being an asshole. You were just trying to be nice.”

Katara frowns at him.

“Did Aang put you up to this?”

Zuko looks surprised. 

“No, why?”

“Well, I’m sorry if you thought I was trying to minimize your feelings,” Katara says, avoiding Zuko’s question.

“You weren’t. I’m sorry I was a jerk all night. I hope I didn’t ruin the dance for you.”

“It’s okay. Maybe next time you’ll come dance with us?” she asks hopefully.

“I’m a terrible dancer, Katara.”

“Hey, I’m not very good either.”

“No, you are. I was watching you.” Zuko goes a little pink at this admission. “That sounded way creepier than I meant it.”

Katara laughs. Zuko smiles sheepishly at her, and for a second Katara forgets about everyone else. She just smiles back at Zuko, happy.

“Say cheese!”

Katara turns to look at Suki, who is holding up her phone, snapping pictures. Katara smiles and sticks out her tongue before pausing.

“Wait, my makeup is probably all messed up,” she tells Suki, dabbing at the corners of her eyes.

“No way, I used the good stuff. Lasts for hours.”

“Yeah, but I cried in it.”

“Girl, I wore this stuff when Sokka and I watched _Up_ and it did not move an inch. It can handle a little Spring Fling drama.”

Suki laughs and moves back to take picture of Sokka, who has scaled up onto the kitchen counter and is attempting to do a handstand. Katara gives a vague warning, but Aang appears to be spotting him appropriately, so she lets him be.

“You cried?”

Katara turns again to face to Zuko, who looks stricken.

“Oh,” Katara says, flushing. “It’s fine.”

“Katara, you don’t have to pretend everything is fine.”

This strikes a nerve. Katara folds her arms across her chest angrily.

“Well, that’s what you said I _always_ do, right?”

Zuko winces.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I…”

Zuko looks at her helplessly.

“Goodnight, Zuko,” she says coldly. She turns to address her friends. “I’m going to bed.”

Sokka, safely back with two feet on the ground, yawns widely.

“Yeah, not a bad idea. Night, everyone!”

Katara gets ready for bed in silence. Suki and Toph are chattering about some inside joke, but Katara doesn’t mind being left out. She angrily wipes away her makeup and throws her dress on the floor in a heap. So much for a glamorous night.

Toph, Suki, and Katara are in one bedroom, while the boys stay in another. Katara surprisingly manages to fall asleep, but she is awoken two hours later. She shouldn’t have had so much water before bed, but she was thirsty from all the dancing.

As she pads down the hallway, she notices a dim light coming from the kitchen. After using the bathroom, she goes to shut it off and is surprised to find Zuko sitting at the kitchen counter staring morosely into a glass of water. Her anger flares up again and she turns to leave, but Zuko spots her.

“Katara, wait.”

Katara lets out a sigh. Zuko sounds so forlorn. She turns back to face him. 

“I shouldn’t have said that earlier,” he starts.

“Why not?” Katara says, walking to stand in front of him, hands on hips. “You said it twice. You must’ve meant it.”

Zuko winces.

“Yeah, but not like that.”

Katara cocks an angry eyebrow. Zuko hastens to explain.

“Ever since I moved here, my uncle made me go see a therapist.”

This news is so surprising to Katara she forgets to be angry. She slowly sinks into the seat next to Zuko. Zuko goes back to staring at his water glass.

“I spent a lot of time telling my uncle and my therapist that I was _fine_. I thought if I just didn’t talk about what happened, or if I didn’t think about it, that I _would_ be fine. I could just pretend that nothing hurt and then it wouldn’t.”

“And that’s what you think I do?” Katara asks softly.

Zuko shrugs, fidgeting in his seat.

“I don’t know. It seems like it sometimes.”

Katara doesn’t know what to say. Zuko isn’t very far from the truth. Katara _does_ spend a lot of energy shoving away her anger and her pain. She’s just surprised that Zuko noticed.

“You don’t have to pretend,” Zuko adds quietly. “I mean, you can if it makes you feel better. But if you want… you don’t have to around me.”

“Do you think I’m just a big fake?” Katara whispers, drawing her knees up to her chest.

“No!” Zuko says quickly. “Not at all. You just seem sad sometimes, or angry, but you always act really nice anyway. Like maybe you think people won’t like you as much if you’re not happy all the time. You shouldn’t have to pretend to feel something you don’t.”

Zuko takes a deep breath. His voice cracks a bit when speaks again.

“I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Zuko, look at me.”

Zuko lifts his head, his eyes full of sorrow.

“You’re right,” she admits. “I do pretend to be happy sometimes when I’m not. I won’t try to force it around you anymore.”

“You can do whatever you want, Katara. I didn’t mean to — ”

“I know. It’s okay. Sometimes it helps, pretending to be okay. Most of the time it doesn’t. But no one has ever really noticed I do it. Maybe you didn’t bring it up in the most tactful way ever —” Zuko cringes a bit — “but it’s actually kind of nice that you noticed. Makes me feel… I don’t know, less alone.”

She’s not really sure what else to say, so she and Zuko sit in silence as a large clock ticks on the wall.

“We should probably go back to sleep,” Katara says at length.

“Uh, I’m going to stay up for a bit,” Zuko says uncomfortably. Katara gives him a quizzical look. Zuko flushes and mumbles, “I had a bad dream.”

“Oh, well I know what to do about that,” Katara says, hopping up from her chair. She goes to retrieve a set of playing cards and shuffles the deck.

Zuko watches her, amused.

“I thought you said you were bad at cards?”

“I am,” Katara admits. “But I used to get nightmares a lot after my mom died, and there’s only one way to get back to sleep.”

“What’s that?”

“You gotta bore yourself to sleep. Zuko Sozin, this is war.”

Zuko chuckles and cuts the deck. Katara deals even stacks and they each flip the top card. They make it through one round, and then another, before Zuko is rubbing his face and yawning.

“I’m calling this a victory for me,” Katara says as they head back to bed.

“No way! I had way more cards than you.”

“Yeah, but that wasn’t the game. I made you sleepy, so I win.”

Zuko stares at her and suddenly Katara is wide awake again. Zuko’s eyes drop briefly to her lips and her heart pounds. Zuko hesitates for a moment before lifting a hand to touch her shoulder.

“Thanks, Katara.”

Katara can’t resist. She steps close and wraps her arms around Zuko’s middle. After a moment, he slides his arms over her shoulders to hug her back. She takes a deep breath, inhaling Zuko’s warm scent. When she pulls away, Zuko is giving her a soft smile.

“Goodnight, Zuko.”

“Goodnight.”

She falls asleep clinging to the memory of his smile.

—

May always arrives faster than Katara expects. One minute, she’s goofing off on spring break, making silly dance videos with Aang, and the next, she’s trying not to have a nervous breakdown the night before her AP Chemistry exam. Zuko suggests they play war over FaceTime so they can both fall asleep. Katara tries not too swoon too much over what she feels is a very romantic gesture.

As relieved as Katara is to have her exams wrapping up, she is less excited that the track season is coming to a close. Their high school hosts the district-wide meet and Hakoda gets the afternoon off to come watch Katara and Sokka. Her first hurdles race is so-so, only her third best time of the season and off the podium, but her next is a new season best. She finishes in second and gives Sokka her usual Water Twins high five. Aang and Zuko hop over from the jumping pits to congratulate her. Both of them give her hugs; Katara tries not to blush too much when Zuko squeezes her.

The final relays are just as exciting as ever. Katara’s team manages to eke out a good enough time to qualify for the county meet the following week. The boys pull off a spectacular victory; Katara yells so much that she loses her voice. When she croakily asks her dad to take a picture of her friends, he laughs but obliges. The six of them huddle together, arms looped over each other’s shoulders. Katara is thrilled when Zuko winds his arm not around her neck, but around her waist, and pulls her close. When she looks at the picture later, her own face beams up at her, Zuko smiling shyly at the camera.

The county meet is even more competitive, and although Katara is proud of her performance, it’s the end of her road. She sets another personal record in the hurdles, but she finishes fifth, and only the top three advance. Her relay team similarly hits a new record, but are far from first. The boy’s relay team, on the other hand, finishes second, and qualify for the next round. Katara gives them all hugs — even Jet — and the whole team celebrates as they go watch Aang’s success in the high jump. Although Aang had qualified for all three jumps, he had chosen to drop the long jump to focus on his other events, especially the high jump. Katara cheers wildly when he hits a new personal best; Aang waves happily as he struggles to free himself from the enormous foam pad.

The bus ride home is filled with laughter and excitement. Katara and Zuko eschew homework for once — they are done with their AP exams after all — and join in the merriment. Katara feels a little twinge of jealousy that her season is over. She will miss having fun with her friends. She mentions this to Zuko as they pull into the parking lot.

“You’re not going to be missing anything,” Zuko assures her. “Hanging out with you _is_ the fun part. You really think I want to spend more time listening to Jet talk about how his method of baton-holding is the most efficient?”

Katara snorts.

“Is that supposed to be a euphemism?”

Zuko chokes a bit on his water before joining her in laughter.

“We’ll still hang out once track is over, right?” Zuko asks nervously. “I mean, I know our exams are done, but…”

“Of course we’ll hang out!” Katara insists. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

Zuko smiles.

“Good.”

Katara has to admit, as much as she had enjoyed her study sessions with Zuko, it’s much more fun now that there is less pressure. They still learn things in class and have exams, but there is more space to enjoy it now. The one big project remaining is for English class.

“This project will answer the question _‘who am I?’_ ,” their teacher had explained. “You can include your works from this year, but it should also include three personal essays. These can be about any subject. Don’t be afraid to delve deep. Really think about who you are, who you want to be, and what has shaped you. No topic is off limits.”

Zuko and Katara had bemoaned this assignment for weeks. It was way too vague, they agreed. Still, they spent a good amount of time in the tea shop bouncing ideas off each other. They had come up with some fun pieces: Katara had written a vignette where she and Sokka became the other twin, and Zuko had typed up a series of haikus about tea that Iroh had loved so much, he had them framed for the tea shop. Zuko had been mortified about this, but he admitted to Katara that he _had_ left a draft out on the kitchen table thinking Iroh might read it. Katara thought it was sweet; it was obvious to her that each type of tea extolled in the haikus was a metaphor for a life lesson Iroh had taught Zuko. It had made her tear up a little bit to read them.

There is, however, one part of the assignment that Zuko and Katara avoid discussing. It is clear that the rest of their classmates are using this assignment as an opportunity to work through difficult aspects in their lives: divorced parents, deceased pets, personal disappointments. Katara and Zuko know that they certainly have plenty of trauma to uncover in essay format, but neither is sure if they want to.

“Have you ever written about your mom before?” Zuko asks her over tea.

“I tried to once,” Katara admits. “It was for a short story unit during freshman year. But it was too hard. Have you ever…?”

“No. But I thought… I don’t know, maybe I would try? Not to share with the class though.”

“Definitely not,” Katara agrees. “Um, I don’t know if you want to… but maybe we could share with each other? Only if you want to, of course. If it’s too personal…”

“No, that’s a good idea. I think it would be… helpful. To tell someone. But if you don’t want to…”

“I want to.”

“Good.”

“Okay.”

Neither of them raises the subject again for the next two weeks until their final projects are due. The next day, Katara suggests they meet in her favorite park for a Saturday afternoon paper swap. By the time Zuko shows up, paper in hand, Katara has set up a picnic blanket under a large birch tree. Zuko sits with her in the dappled sunlight, admiring the view for a moment.

“Look, uh,” he starts slowly. “Mine is… kind of dark. I don’t want to upset you. It’s not graphic or anything but… yeah. It’s not really nice.”

Katara smiles, handing him her paper. 

“Thanks for trusting me to read it. Here’s mine. It’s not exactly a bunch of rainbows either.”

This gets a feeble smile out of Zuko, and they both turn their attention to the papers in their hands.

Zuko finishes first, but Katara scarcely notices. She is totally absorbed in Zuko’s tale, her heart hammering with each new paragraph. Zuko had not described the acts his father committed in great detail, but Zuko’s emotional impressions were more than enough. Each sentence was rife with imagery of Zuko’s anger, his shame, his pain. His love for his mother mixed with his confused emotions for his father, a man he both loved and feared. Katara finishes the paper and looks up at Zuko, who is biting his lip nervously. She bursts into tears.

“Shit,” Zuko swears.

Katara’s sob cuts off with her laugh. She wipes her eyes.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to freak you out,” she said chuckling. “This is really amazing, Zuko. You’re really talented. It’s so powerful.”

“So is yours,” Zuko says. “Your mom sounds really amazing.”

“She was,” Katara agrees. “I’m sorry your dad is… your dad.”

Zuko gives her a wry smile.

“Me too. Thanks for reading it.”

“Of course.”

They settle back comfortably on the blanket, gazing up at the leaves. Usually Katara would feel the need to fill the silence, but she is content to listen to the birds chirping and children playing nearby. She senses a lightness in the air. 

Zuko’s fingertips graze hers. Katara feels a spark inside of her, some indescribable electricity pulsing through her veins. She wonders if it is an accidental touch, so she lightly grazes him back. Zuko does not move his hand away.

Summoning all her courage, Katara slowly slips her hand underneath Zuko’s. He does not move, and for a moment Katara wonders if she has misread something, but then he closes his hand over hers.

Her heart hammers in her chest. Katara squeezes his hand and Zuko squeezes back. Neither of them says anything or moves for a long time. Katara feels the tension in their hands release. Her palm feels a little sweaty, but so does his. She finds strangely comforting.

After a while, Katara’s phone buzzes. Reluctantly, she sits up to check it.

“My dad needs me to come home to help with dinner,” she explains. “He’s stuck on the late shift tonight.”

“I’ll walk you home.”

“Zuko, it’s a mile and a half out of your way.”

“I don’t mind.”

Katara is tempted to talk him out of it, but she’s secretly thrilled. She wonders if he will kiss her goodbye, or at least hold her hand again.

He does neither, but he seems eager to engage her in conversation. They share their theories for upcoming TV series finales and for topics sure to be covered on their final exams. When they part ways in front of Katara’s apartment building, Zuko initiates another hug. Katara’s stomach erupts in butterflies. Something about the way he smells makes her heart ache. He pulls away and Katara smiles up at him.

“Thanks for walking me home, Zuko.”

He nods and opens his mouth to speak. He is interrupted by Sokka, whose head is sticking out of the window above.

“Katara, help! I got started without you and now everything is burning!”

Whatever Zuko had intended to say is lost in a laugh. Katara races to the building’s front door. Zuko waves and heads off.

“Seriously, Sokka,” Katara says as she opens the door. “How hard is it to follow a recipe?”

Katara inspects the damage. She’s seen Sokka do worse, but he’s managed to totally burn some fried eggs.

“Did you not put any oil or butter in this first?”

“What were you doing with Zuko?”

Katara’s head rears back, surprised.

“Studying.”

“He was hugging you. Zuko never hugs people.”

“He does, too! It just took him a while to open up to people.”

Sokka narrows his eyes in suspicion.

“You like him, don’t you?”

“Of course I like him. He’s my friend.”

“Come on, Katara.”

Katara focuses on scraping off the messy pan to avoid meeting Sokka’s gaze.

“So what if I like him?”

“That’s great! You should tell him.”

Katara turns to Sokka, astonished.

“Really?”

“Yeah, Zuko is awesome. And I think he likes you, too. He was really cagey about it when I asked him a few weeks ago.”

“You did _what_?”

“Whoa, don’t get mad!” Sokka says, eyeing the frying pan Katara is wielding. “I was just teasing him because he was being all mopey at practice. I asked him if he missed having you around to do nerd flirtation with him and he got all red.”

“Nerd flirtation?”

“You know, when you guys laugh about weird stuff like _Hamlet_ or math equations. Anyway, I thought maybe he asked you out on a date. You seemed all nervous earlier before you left.”

“Oh,” Katara says, lowering the frying pan back into the sudsy water. “No, it wasn’t a date.”

“But you wanted it to be?”

Katara sighs. She supposes there’s no point in lying to Sokka. After all, she had been the one to tease him mercilessly about his crush on Suki. She had also been the one to accidentally-on-purpose lock them in a closet in Toph’s guest house the previous October. Katara gives Sokka a questioning look.

“You wouldn’t mind if we were going out?”

“Why would I mind?”

“You’re the one always going on about defending my honor.”

“That’s because dudes like Jet were being creepy about you. Zuko isn’t like that. If you like him, you have my blessing. I’ll lock you guys in a closet next time we’re at Toph’s.”

Katara smiles and gives Sokka a big hug.

“Somehow I don’t think Zuko will be as easily lured into a closet as you were,” Katara teases. “You’re going to have to find something other than beef jerky to bait him.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. It wasn’t just _any_ jerky, Katara. It was Wagyu beef! How was I supposed to resist that?”

Katara laughs as Sokka waxes poetic about the wonders of dried meats. Her phone buzzes again and she sneaks a peak as she instructs Sokka on how to properly fry eggs, this time with a clean pan.

_Zuko Sozin: Thanks again for today._ _It was really nice._ _Do you want to come by for boba tomorrow?_

Katara doesn’t mind that Sokka’s eggs are a little overcooked. Hope bubbles happily in her chest.

—

Katara arrives at the Jasmine Dragon to find Zuko ready and waiting with drinks for both of them.

“I thought we could go on a walk? It’s a nice day outside.”

Katara acquiesces, although she’s a bit confused by Zuko’s nervous energy. Iroh gives them a friendly wave as they depart.

“Have a good time!” he calls cheerfully.

Zuko turns red and ushers Katara out the door. She sips her boba and ignores this strange behavior. She deftly steers the conversation to safe territory and Zuko relaxes.

Their feet carry them automatically as they get lost in conversation. Before they know it, they have wandered onto their school’s campus.

“Sokka is right, we really are nerds. Coming to school on a Sunday? That’s low, even for us.”

“Hey, usually when we’re here on weekends, it’s for extra track practice.”

“That just makes us track nerds, Zuko.”

“Eh, I’m okay with that.”

Katara laughs. They wander over to the track which is surprisingly empty for such a beautiful day. Usually there are joggers, or a children’s soccer team practicing, but Katara isn’t complaining about privacy. She and Zuko walk up to sit in the bleachers.

“It’s kind of weird seeing it from here,” Katara admits.

“Better view, but probably not as exciting as it is from the field.”

“Yeah, easier to run around and cheer from different spots down there.”

“I always liked that you did that.”

“You could hear me cheering?” Katara asks. "I usually tune people out.”

“I could hear you,” Zuko says, smiling. “It made me run faster.”

“Hah, well I _was_ telling you to go faster.”

“No, I wanted to impress you.”

Katara blinks and smiles.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Zuko is watching her carefully. His eyes drop to her lips for a moment before meeting her gaze again.

“Zuko…”

She’s glad Zuko cuts her off. She has no idea what she was going to say, and this is _much_ better.

Zuko’s lips press gently against hers, his hand moving to her waist. Katara abandons the mostly empty cup of tea she had been holding and winds her arms around Zuko, who pulls her even closer. Katara gives a little gasp of surprise, and Zuko’s tongue brushes against her lower lip. It’s the most exciting kiss she’s ever had, and she feels dizzy with elation. She kisses him back, hoping she is doing this correctly. This is something she is not well practiced in, but she thinks Zuko might agree to be her study buddy for this, too.

She pulls away, a little breathless, to grin at Zuko.

“Wow,” she whispers.

Zuko turns bright red. Katara laughs and laughs — her happiness makes it difficult to stop. Zuko joins her, and soon he’s laughing uncontrollably, too. When they finally calm down enough to catch their breath, Katara pulls him into another searing kiss. Zuko looks a little dazed when she releases him.

“Wow,” he repeats. Katara giggles.

“So,” she says hesitantly. “What now?”

“Do you want to go on another date? Or a first date, if you don’t count this one.”

“I want to count this one,” she says, grinning. “It’s been great so far.”

“Well, don’t get your hopes up,” Zuko says. “This was my only idea: boba and working up the nerve to kiss you.”

“Both of which I am a big fan of,” Katara says eagerly. “But personally, I could do with more kissing on this date.” 

Zuko leans in again and she meets him halfway. She smiles against his lips. She’s had a lot of good memories out on this track, but they’re all blown away by this one.

Her heart races, happy in this moment.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This was fun to write - reliving track and field vicariously through writing, haha.


End file.
